John Kiriakou: US Solitary Confinement
Most states have at least considered initiatives to do away with, or to reduce the use of, isolation in their prison systems, according to the latest major report on the…
The Year of the Botched Execution
By Binoy Kampmark / CounterPunch There was never anything going for it, except political mileage and the desire for crude retribution. The putting to death of another human being by…
John Kiriakou: Pardoning Turkeys Instead of Humans
Almost no pardon applications ever actually make it to the president’s desk if you don’t go gobble gobble.
College Degrees Help Incarcerated People Take the Next Step to Freedom
Since 2013, the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons initiative, or NJ-STEP, has helped hundreds of individuals earn degrees. What’s next for the program?
Voters in Four States Approve Bans on Forced Prison Labor
"There should be no exceptions to a ban on slavery," said Democratic U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley following passage of Measure 112 in Oregon.
John Kiriakou: American Gulag
Western journalists are providing breathless depictions of the harsh conditions facing U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner in Russia. Have none of them been inside a U.S. prison?
New Data Tool Details Thousands of Corporations Profiting From US Prison Industry
"Despite earning tens of billions of dollars each year, the public knows little about the prison industry and those that profit from it."
Prison Strike Spreads in Alabama as Incarcerated Individuals Demand DOJ Protect Their Human Rights
After a week of striking, Jared Ware shares how prison authorities have tried to thwart inmates' protests.
DOJ Admits It Has No Idea How Many People Die in Law Enforcement Custody
Thousands of deaths in jails, prisons, and police custody have gone uncounted in recent years. Now the DOJ is calling for changes to federal law.
LA Ended a Zero-bail COVID Rule, and Now the Jail Population Is Growing
In June, a judge ended an emergency order to slow the spread of COVID-19 in LA’s jails, enraging civil-rights advocates.
Bernie Sanders Advocates for Leonard Peltier’s Release from Prison
“I continue to support efforts to free him,” Sanders said of Leonard Peltier, 77-year-old Indigenous rights activist, in a letter obtained by HuffPost.
John Kiriakou on Abu Zubaydah and Unethical CIA Practices
As negotiations for Abu Zubaydah resumed this week, the CIA agent who captured him highlights the unethical and illegal issues of the arrangement.
Will Biden Keep His Word and Pardon Federal Cannabis Offenders?
Running for president, Joe Biden promised he’d decriminalize marijuana and pardon federal offenders. So why is Daniel Muessig about to go to prison for five years?
John Kiriakou: New York’s Prison Crisis
Rikers Island has been in the news lately, but Great Meadow Correctional Facility is even worse.
Prisoners Sue California Prison System Following Targeted Raid Against Black People
Talib Williams, an incarcerated person at Correctional Training Facility in California, is filing a lawsuit against the state prison system for a raid that targeted Black people last summer.